Wednesday, May 11, 2011

"Not Even a Look Out the Window?"

That's the question posed by veteran White House reporter Keith Koffler. Silly Keith, why should the president look downwhen it is only white, red-state Southerners who are dying?

President Obama doesn’t seem to have even peered out his Air Force One window to view the swelling Mississippi, a minimal show of interest for which George W. Bush was pilloried when he took a peek at the damage wrought by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. At least Bush bothered to look.

Obama is traveling today OVER the devastation being wrought by the Mississippi in order to get to events in Texas, where he will rally his Hispanic supporters with a speech on immigration in El Paso and then head to the Lone Star state’s liberal bastion of Austin for two fundraisers.

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney, who spoke with reporters aboard Air Force One, was asked whether Obama had bothered to get a view from above.

“I haven’t seen him do that but I haven’t been with him for the full flight so far,” Carney said.

Obama’s hopscotch over the Mississippi flooding is emblematic of his disaster no-show policy.

He’s currently getting slammed for visiting wildfire-plagued Texas for political purposes while refusing to grant the state disaster declaration status, which would free up federal aid. Reporters on Air Force One could see smoke rising as the plane headed into El Paso.

Well, that last part is a bit unfair. Obama did what he does best while in Texas, perhaps the only thing he knows how to do - give hackneyed, partisan speeches to fawning acolytes who are willing to fork over millions of dollars to hear their dreamboat lie blithely to their faces. What else do you expect from him?

So anyway, back to Austin, where Obama gave the second partisan speech of the day while ignoring the wildfires raging in another part of the state. Had Bush visited a state in the midst of a crisis and then gone out of his way to avoid visiting those in need or at least surveying the area, we would still be hearing about it today. Spike Lee would have made two movies about it. Kanye West would have cut an album with the Black Eyed Peas doing backup, and Barbra Streisand would misspell every word about it on her blog. Michael Moore would’ve eaten someone.

Obama did that today. This president came to Texas, gave two very partisan speeches, neglected a disaster zone, and left with bags of cash. And the Democrats who hosted him and gave him a pile of money? They’re fine with it, apparently.

Obama is helping himself, but destroying hopes of what few Texas Democrats have of retaining their seats in 2012. Which makes the Time/Yahoo fantasy of the Democrats retaking the House in 2012 as likely as my fantasy of a stormy weekend locked inside with Zooey Deschanel, with nothing to do save look into each others eyes. But since when has Obama cared about anyone but Obama anyway. See reform, health Care for further examples...

Well, that's a "change" I bet you weren't hoping for: Another American Civil War, this one instigated by...the liberal North and its arrogant leader. Well, I suppose that's what you get when you elect a man based on empty slogans - once in power, you never know how he'll fill them out....